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The newly created Minnesota Sports Facility Authority, which will work with the Minnesota Vikings to oversee construction of a $975 million downtown Minneapolis football stadium, will hold its first public meeting late Friday morning at the Metrodome.

Agenda items to be discussed include the appointment of an executive director or chief executive officer, who will oversee the day to day operations of the massive stadium project, which will be built on and around the current Metrodome site and is expected to be completed by the 2016 NFL season.

The newly created public body that will work with the Minnesota Vikings in overseeing development of a $975 million downtown Minneapolis football stadium made its first significant hire Friday, appointing Ted Mondale as its full-time executive director. Mondale, who was Gov. Mark Dayton's chief negotiator in the months-long legislative fight for a new stadium, will oversee day-to-day operations of the massive project, which will be built on and around the current Metrodome site on the east end of downtown.

Mondale: "I appreciate the confidence you put in me. I will not let you down."

for those of you too young to know, Ted Mondale's father was Walter Mondale, a long time US senator from Minnesota, vice-president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, and candidate for president in 1984._________________

Mondale said there are a number of things in the works already regarding the new stadium, pointing out that the Metrodome is only 900,000 square feet but the new stadium will be 1.5 million.

Mondale: "There's a set of contracts and [requests for proposals] that we need to get fulfilled to keep the project going. We need to get in place a building owners rep -- that's someone who builds buildings like these and has that experience and can help advise us through the project. We have a number of other works -- the environmental impact statement, that takes about a year. And all of these things are getting to the goal of understanding what our program delivery is, understanding what the final project is, and hopefully in early fall, as early as possible, hiring an architect and design team, which basically designs the building down to the details."

After that, the next step is to be ready to go out and bid for construction teams and select a manager, and then hopefully break ground by summer or fall 2013.

They want an architect and design team selected by early this fall. Then, next spring or early next summer, they hope to select the construction firm once the architectural work is done.

John Williams, only 64 years old and a former great Gophers offensive lineman, died unexpectedly Sunday. His wife, Barbara Butts Williams, is a member of the five-person Metropolitan Sports Facilities Authority overseeing the new Vikings stadium.

Lester Bagley: "We want to see a signature facility that is unique to this market. We may not know what that is just yet. We may need some feedback from designers and architects to get some concepts. It's a fixed-roof facility, but if we can cut costs, manage costs, our goal is to have a retractable feature such as a portion of the roof that can be opened to view downtown. Some retractable feature, we think, is important. That's the one thing we're working on.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up as just a retractable window (maybe on top like they have in Dallas or on the side, just not facing north ). That probably would be the cheapest._________________

I wouldn't be surprised to see it end up as just a retractable window (maybe on top like they have in Dallas or on the side, just not facing north ). That probably would be the cheapest.

To me, skimping on the little details as this, might just have the Vikes begging for an entirely new stadium in 20 years, once again. In my opinion, the Vikes just need to do what they can to build a full retractable roof. a partial retractable roof, retractable wall, or retractable window just seems like one of those immediate partial fixes to the solution (kind of like the entire concept of the Metrodome). Cheap fix for the present time, but ultimately, isnt a long term fix. The Vikes need to build the stadium right the first time, or else it will become obsolete in 20 years, just like the dome.

The $975 million future home of the Minnesota Vikings may someday host Super Bowls, Final Fours, and professional soccer tournaments. On Friday, the newly created public body working with the team to build the downtown Minneapolis stadium briefly entertained another possibility -- playing host to a national championship college football game.

"I don't think there is anything that is off the table at this point," Steve Maki, director of facilities and engineering for the Metrodome, said after members of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority met for only the second time since being appointed last month.

Maki told authority members that he recently contacted Bowl Championship Series (BCS) administrators, who help determine matchups for post-season college football games, and asked them to review a general outline for the Vikings stadium project.

Nothing will ever be built like the Dome (which was obsolete the day it opened).

How did the dome ever manage to host a superbowl?

I honestly don't know. I imagine that they wanted a northern city to host it sometime, and it was one of the few domed stadiums in the north that was capable of holding it (the only other one off the top of my head would have been the Silverdome)._________________

The public board teaming with the Minnesota Vikings to build a nearly $1 billion downtown Minneapolis stadium turned to a Wisconsin firm Friday to bird-dog construction.

Hammes Co., based in Madison, was selected by the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority from more than a dozen applicants to serve as the authority's owner's representative on the project.

Hammes has served a similar role in the construction or renovation of several NFL stadiums over the past decade, including the $1.6 billion MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., which opened in 2010 as the home for the New York Giants and New York Jets.

The firm also was involved in the $430 million Ford Field development in Detroit, home of the Detroit Lions, and the expansion and renovation of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, home of the Green Bay Packers.

Hopefully they can come up with something unique and appropriate for todays NFL standards.